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Women's Preview: AVP Brooklyn Open presented by Cushman & Wakefield
By Doug Strauss
August 16, 2006

Fans attending the AVP Brooklyn Open presented by Cushman & Wakefield will
notice some changes. Of the 24 women's teams seeded directly into the main
draw, only nine began the year playing with each other. These nine teams
have played in all the events this season as partners.

This week three of the top six seeds are in their first or second tournament
together, making for some new dynamics on the women's side. Nicole Branagh
and Elaine Youngs join forces for the first time this weekend, forming one
of the tallest teams. One of those two players has been in each of the last
nine championship matches on the AVP CROCS Tour. Plus, Youngs has an
impressive streak of reaching the finals with new partners in their first
outing; she has accomplished that each of the last four times she has
changed partners. Youngs has played in the Final Four of every AVP team
event she has ever entered. Together, as the second-seeded team, Branagh /
Youngs are two of the tour's best servers and blockers.

The third seeds are no strangers to the finals either, as individually
Jennifer Boss and Rachel Wacholder have appeared in eight of the title
matches so far. Playing together last week in Manhattan for the first time,
Boss and Wacholder just missed making the Final Four. Playing in the
second-longest match of the year time-wise, the duo fell 26-24 in game three
to Branagh and Holly McPeak.

Another top team playing together for the first time is Nancy Mason and Tyra
Turner, the sixth seeds in the tournament. Mason will likely be able to
adjust to the new partnership, as she has advanced to the semifinals with
five different partners since the start of last year. For Turner, however,
this will mark the first tournament since 2003 that she has played with
someone other than Makare Wilson.

The other three teams among the top six are familiar semifinalists. The top
seeds again are Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, winners of nine events
this season, and 15 consecutive matches. They will be looking to secure
their 35th career AVP victory in what will be their 42nd event together,
meaning that they win 83% of the tournaments.

Fourth-seeded Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan will try to take
advantage of the new teams to make a move. Since the Hermosa Beach
tournament, a span of seven events, Davis and Johnson Jordan have not lost
to any team seeded below sixth, while chalking up six victories over teams
among the top six. With their team chemistry, having played together
throughout their careers, they could be a team that thrives with all these
changes.

Dianne DeNecochea and Tammy Leibl own the distinction of being the oldest
team on tour, but they are getting better with age. One of the nine teams to
have played together all year, DeNecochea and Leibl are another team that
can make some noise with all the new teams in the field. Last week they
advanced undefeated to the semifinals, their third of the season, after
knocking off both the second and third seeds. The duo lost in the semifinals
finishing in third.

The all-time wins leader, McPeak, a three-time beach Olympian, is pairing up
with a two-time indoor Olympian, Logan Tom. These two will both have new
experiences, as McPeak has not had a double-digit seed in a domestic
tournament since 1992, while Tom will be trying to improve her career best
finish, which currently stands at 13th.

Through all the changes, one returning team's seed did not change, although
they probably wished it had. Carrie Dodd and Barbra Fontana are seeded
seventh for the fifth straight time. In the last four events, they clashed
with the second seeds in the winner's bracket quarter-finals, losing each
time. Dodd and Fontana are trying to get to their first semifinal of the
year.

The new teams mean many of the matches will carry a little extra meaning,
with former partners facing off against each other. The three days of
battling will culminate with the finals, televised live on NBC on Sunday,
August 20 at 4:30 pm (ET). With just two tournaments left after this one for
teams and players to qualify for the specialty events to close the season,
the added stakes of a network event will surely make for an intriguing
tournament from the opening matches to the finale.

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